Team17 to reportedly make “tens of redundancies” this month
Team17, the publisher of The Escapists, Overcooked and Dredge, will be laying off a number of employees, according to an anonymous source.
VG247‘s report on the potential redundancies came from the assertions of the aforementioned anonymous source. Apparently the announcement was only made this morning (October 2) after an internal town hall session.
In its own coverage, Eurogamer supported VG247‘s claim that Team17 CEO Michael Pattison will be departing, with group CEO Ann Hurley taking over his former role.
“As explained in today’s announcement, we have just communicated our half year results showing strong growth for the Group in the first half of the year,” read a statement from Hurley that was allegedly read out in today’s town hall and added to a letter sent to employees.
“This reflects the success of our diverse portfolio strategy, and the commitment and expertise of our people in all that we do.
“However, we recognise these results were against the backdrop of one of the most competitive years for high quality launches and deep peer discounting that the industry has ever seen.
“Within our Group, Team17 Digital in particular has felt the pressure of these challenges, as have many companies in our industry.”
No numbers nor specifics about which divisions of Team17 will be impacted have been shared at this point in time. Yet VG247‘s source said that employees are allegedly expecting “tens of redundancies” to be enacted after consultation.
Layoffs will conclude in November, they claimed, and the marketing and quality assurance teams are apparently being cut by “between 20-30 per cent”.
Last year, Team17 was accused of allowing a toxic work environment to be produced with poor working conditions and lack of consequences for sexual harassment. Pattison said that these allegations would be “thoroughly investigated” and pay would be immediately reviewed.
In other gaming news, Payday 3‘s matchmaking issues, which proved for a very problematic launch for the new game, are now resolved following work on the servers from Starbreeze.
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Imogen Donovan
NME
